Ovation of the Seas stops in Wellington Harbour

[MargoK]

Whoops - Ovation of the Seas can't get out of Wellington Harbour

 

https://www.stuff.co.nz/travel/travel-troubles/117517342/ovation-of-the-seas-cruise-ship-comes-to-a-stop-in-wellington-harbour

[erewhon]

Thanks for posting the link.

We saw her in Port Chalmers yesterday.

[erewhon]

Ovation now underway, according to the Marine traffic site, escorted by two tugs, police launch and the pilot boat.

[Kiwi Kruzer]

Heres a grab from a web cam at the heads timed at 20.48.

The radio news says the ship has power and the passengers are enjoying the sunset. and it has stopped due to a mechanical issue.

 

[erewhon]

The tugs are now returning to port, as the Ovation heads north to Napier.

Edited November 18, 2019 by erewhon

[Kiwi Kruzer]

Good to see she is underway. Bit of a scare , especially being in the channel at the entrance to Wellington Harbour.

[erewhon]

Ovation now doing 10.1 knots.

[Kiwi Kruzer]

They are now docked in Napier . It amazes me how such a gigantic ship can enter and manoeuvre into position at such a small port.

[erewhon]

4 hours ago, Kiwi Kruzer said:

They are now docked in Napier . It amazes me how such a gigantic ship can enter and manoeuvre into position at such a small port.

 

It is amazing that the ship can berth there.

[SeaDog-46]

Dim witted media call Ovation a LINER - maybe they should get a dictionary for Christmas - poor show - STUFF [up].

Port authorities may now require more tugs at each NZ port at RCC expense.

[Kiwi Kruzer]

2 hours ago, SeaDog-46 said:

Dim witted media call Ovation a LINER - maybe they should get a dictionary for Christmas - poor show - STUFF [up].

Port authorities may now require more tugs at each NZ port at RCC expense.

 

Thats one of my "beefs" for all AUand NZ ports..... but how big a tug do they need for such huge ships ?. 

 

[SeaDog-46]

David - Should have said ports may require more tugs to be used by this vessel as it is now considered to be unreliable.

Happens in Brisbane with Pacific Dawn going under the Gateway bridge due to previous power failure.

Had there been one of Wellingtons gales blowing when the power failure happened, no single tug in the SW pacific could stop this monster going aground if the anchors failed to hold her.

[Kiwi Kruzer]

Yes... They were very lucky that the seas were so calm and none of the famous Wellington wind was blowing . 
That was the area where the Wahine came to grief.

[Kiwi Kruzer]

4 hours ago, erewhon said:

 

It is amazing that the ship can berth there.

Here is a grab from Marine Traffic....it looks like they backed her in.

[MicCanberra]

A friend aboard said it was no big deal, although the real reason of mechanical failure was not revealed.

[MicCanberra]

3 hours ago, Kiwi Kruzer said:

Yes... They were very lucky that the seas were so calm and none of the famous Wellington wind was blowing . 
That was the area where the Wahine came to grief.

I think they were very luck, although reports from on board said the pilot debarked and then they went about fixing the issue.

[Haoie]

A concerning hour or 2 for those onboard no doubt!

[mr walker]

perhaps Chinese whispers, but elsewhere there have been reports from someone who knows someone who was onboard & claims that the ship was grounded on a sandbank?????

[Kiwi Kruzer]

11 minutes ago, mr walker said:

perhaps Chinese whispers, but elsewhere there have been reports from someone who knows someone who was onboard & claims that the ship was grounded on a sandbank?????

There are no sandbanks where they stopped .  The current really moves through as it is very narrow . 
Instead of sand the big fear in that area are the rocks that form jagged reefs.

 

Interesting to note that the PR Department must have swung into top gear as they had a big article in this mornings Herald quoting passengers pleasure with the cruise and how they were not too worried on board when they stopped , and how wonderful theCaptain was  in keeping them updated.

 

 

[MicCanberra]

Good to see the media reporting using real investigative journalism, instead of doing a puff piece.

[takeout]

We were on board at the time no great drama captain had called for tugs to stand by as soon as problem occurred

the winds were blowing but not gusting didn`t fully explain what happened except to say it was a "technical issue"

[takeout]

On ‎11‎/‎19‎/‎2019 at 4:08 PM, Kiwi Kruzer said:

Here is a grab from Marine Traffic....it looks like they backed her in.

We sure did back in still amazed how they did

[JohnGc]

Was also on this cruise and had a great time. As Cool cruiser said no big drama, skipper was calm and collected, ( well, on his announcements he sounded it )😋 I just did the usual and ate until the problem was fixed.😄 We did get an hour extra at Napier as compensation for the delay. Bit disappointed I did not catch up with GBenjo, when embarking at about 3.45 pm, I asked for him but he had left the ships security check in. It was great checking in at that time the family and I were onboard in about 10 min, custom officers were sitting at their desk and we were the only ones there.   

[Chiliburn]

2 hours ago, JohnGc said:

Was also on this cruise and had a great time. As Cool cruiser said no big drama, skipper was calm and collected, ( well, on his announcements he sounded it )😋 I just did the usual and ate until the problem was fixed.😄 We did get an hour extra at Napier as compensation for the delay. Bit disappointed I did not catch up with GBenjo, when embarking at about 3.45 pm, I asked for him but he had left the ships security check in. It was great checking in at that time the family and I were onboard in about 10 min, custom officers were sitting at their desk and we were the only ones there.   

Can you remember the bands on Ovation John 

[JohnGc]

Hi Chiliburn,  not an awful lot on offer in the way of bands, the one I enjoyed was the Ovation of the seas orchestra, they were on there on a previous Ovation cruise. Nathan Foley ( very talented ) originally was with the Hi Five band in the early days, he was very entertaining but only did 2 shows with the Ovation Band. Here is my list that also includes the piano players.

 

Tribute band  ( Blaze of Glory )

Studio 4 Band.

Rock the boat. ( rock & pop music )

Harmony string duo

Piano favourites with Albert  

Piano with Sean

Pub entertainment Stephen ( sing along )